And Jabez called out to the God of Israel, “If only You would bless me and enlarge my territory! May Your hand be with me and keep me from harm, so that I will be free from pain.” And God granted the request of Jabez.- 1 Chronicles 4:10 BSB

Warrior;
Life is full of Gaps. There is a great gap between KNOWING and DOING. One of the greatest gaps in most people’s lives is the Gap between the head and the heart. In the Christian walk we can call these lines, and the lines are NOT fixed, they are fluid, so as to not create simple patterns that man can numbingly follow. The Bible says, you have not, because you ask not, and then it tells us why! It is written, “And when you do ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may squander it on your pleasures”. (James 4:3) Between James 4:2 and the Prosperity Gospel- ‘Name it and Claim it’, there is a gap, there is a line, and it is NOT a fixed line, it is in this immeasurable gap that the truth lies. GOD has a will; He actually has many WILLS. The most famous prayer in the Bible is well known to many inside and outside of God’s family. In the Lord’s prayer located in Matthew 6:9-14, the middle verses say, “Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven”. God has a PREFERRED WILL and a PERMISSIVE WILL. In Genesis 1:1 we are introduced to God as CREATOR. Then 25 verses later God declares Man as the fleshly IMAGER Of GOD. Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness… So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him. (Genesis 1:26-27, selective highlighting my own) As Imagers of God, He gave us free will, the right to create, the right to decide, to choose, and to will!

Leader, God wills that none shall perish, but yet, we know that some will perish. “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price. – (2 Peter 3:9, Matthew 23:17, Revelation 22:17) Do you see all the lines? Do you see how flexible, permeable, and fluid those lines are? Again, this shows us that God has a PREFERRED WILL, the way He would have it, ‘MAN WILLING’, and then He has an allowable, permissive will based on how His child, called man, chooses. See 1 Samuel 23 and the city called Keilah. God told David something was going to happen, David did something different, and there was a different outcome- Yahweh told David that something was going to happen- but that made David do something different, so what God said was GOING TO HAPPEN, DID NOT HAPPEN! David CHOSE differently and his OUTCOME was different than what it WOULD HAVE BEEN! This is also where Romans 8:27-28 comes into play. Hear the Word of the Lord, “And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will. And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them”.

Conduit, when God says He wills that none shall perish, that is His preferred Will, However, humans, as imagers of God- we too have a ‘will’ involved. In context, 2 Peter 3:9 says that God is delaying His coming in judgment in order to give people further opportunities to repent. Some of the confusion regarding the meaning of 2 Peter 3:9 is the wording of the KJV translation: “not willing that any should perish.” Not willing makes it sound as if God does not allow any to perish. When it was written, ‘willing’, carried more of an idea of desire than of volition. The modern English translations of 2 Peter 3:9 render the same phrase “not wanting” (NIV and CSB), “not wishing” (ESV and NASB), and “does not want” (NLT). God wants us to want Him. God wants us to DESIRE HIS WILL for our lives. Do you want the BEST that GOD HAS TO OFFER? Or do you want God’s leftovers, His lowered, PERMISSIVE WILL? The Prayer of Jabez is simple, spiritual, and powerful when desired from GODLY HEART. Jabez prayed for four things: 1. That God would bless him. 2. That God would enlarge his territory. 3. That God’s hand might be with him. 4. That God would keep him from evil. For a proper interpretation of his prayer, it should be read through a spiritually sound lens, not one of materialism. For the rebellious tribe of Judah returning from exile, Jabez’s story was significant. “Despite his hard luck beginning, he was honored because of his relationship with God. This was a valuable lesson for people struggling with their own identity.” (NIV Quest Study Bible) The last line of Jabez’ prayer was that God changed the WORLD’S IDENTITY of Himself- So I will be free from Pain- that is what his name means. His name, ironically, means pain and sorrow. “He seems to have lived in dread that his name would be prophetic…so he prayed about it and God granted his request.” (New International Encyclopedia of Bible Characters) If you want the DESIRES OF GOD’S HEART for your life, then you must build a closer relationship to The Father, Abba, Yahweh! There is only ONE WAY, ONE WILL to do that, and that is through a LIVING, LOVING relationship with His Son, our Savior: Jesus the Christ! Now that Christmas is behind us, what will you do with Jesus?